A taste of life’s bounty: alternatives to four-year colleges

Molly ChaikinStaff Writer I remember when I sat in my fifth grade class and listened as our counselor invited us into the world of college. We were all given a sheet on which we marked our college knowledge — where our parents went, where our siblings went, where we want to go and what we were interested in. Looking back on this experience, the guest speaker made it sound as if a four-year college was the only path to take after high school graduation, but not everyone agrees.Just recently, Peter Thiel, PayPal co-founder and one of the first investors in Facebook, proposed a controversial path toward more rapid innovation. The foundation Thiel created, the Thiel Foundation, announced that it was giving 24 people under 20 $100,000 fellowships to drop out of school for two years to start their own companies. The problem is, not everyone has this life-changing opportunity.During elementary and middle school, programs to educate students about post-high school opportunities only focus on the option of going to a four-year college. However, the truth is that attending a four-year college is not the only way to succeed in life, and is not in the student’s best interest when he or she is offered only a single path to achievement.Before high school, attending a four-year college seems as perfect as getting a shiny new bike. But when one actually gets the bike, it may be less shiny as it once seemed. In other words, things aren’t always what they appear to be.With the competitiveness of college admission reaching an all-time high, it is easy to feel disillusioned by a society wherein expectations don’t always match up with reality.While I concede that frequent discussions from parents and teachers about college are beneficial to some students, it often leaves students ignorant of options that could better enhance their own personal paths.One of the alternatives to a four-year education is community college. Frequently, community colleges are perceived as last resorts for misfits and academic failures. In reality though, it may be the perfect choice for some students, who from there, would work toward the acceptance into their dream college or university.According to SMC’s website, “[SMC is] the leader among the state’s 110 community colleges in transferring students to the University of California, University of Southern California and other four-year campuses.” But, not many students are aware of this starting from a young age.In addition to talking about four-year colleges at a young age, there should be an educational focus on the options available to students upon high school graduation. If ideas of alternative post-high school options were presented at an earlier age, students might have less trouble adapting to the idea of not going to a 4-year and might instead, move on to their best option.“I had always really enjoyed being a student and learning, but didn’t always get the best grades,” Samo ‘05 alum Bahiyyih Brock said.  “I hope that more students have realized that community college is truly a gift. I went to SMC and then transferred to UCLA. From there, I decided to study abroad in England. Now I am living there and I feel so much more a part of something than I thought I ever would. It’s great,” Brock said."I want to keep my options open and I wasn't sure that college was the right thing for me right out of the gate. Plus, I get to live in Germany for a year. Why not take a gap year?" senior Emory Mugalian said.There are actually many programs on campus that address the options other than a 4-year college. The ROP program is geared towards students who can learn to be successful by thriving in their own elements. For instance, many students have used auto shop as a step toward becoming an auto mechanic post- high school. Still with all these classes at Samo that might help students progress on a unique path, there are no equivalent classes to prepare students for this in elementary or middle school. If there were, students in high school would most likely have more of a direction of what they would like to focus on after high school.Students may also opt to take a gap year that can allow them to decide what they want to do- whether it is going straight into work, going into a trade school, or the military.In the words of Peter Theil, “In our society the default assumption is that everybody has to go to college.”This can change. There are more paths to a bright future than are perceived straight off the bat.  In the future perhaps other options after high school will become more favorable. It is not to say that 4-year colleges are an inadequate option for some students, but if judgment and status quo were put aside, more students would realize that they do not need to fulfill a cookie-cutter experience after high school to get to where they want to be in life.mchaikin@thesamohi.com